# Build a searchable creative archive

JBN · Version 1.0 · 26 October 2026
Start with one project and a question you keep having to look up. You can do the first pass with folders, a text editor and your computer’s search.

## Start with a question your archive should answer

Good: “Which source supports the claim in our current treatment?”
Too broad for a first pass: “Understand everything we have ever made.”

Pick one completed project and 5–10 files you own or have permission to use. A small, understandable archive is easier to test than a complete drive.

## Give each source a stable identity

Make a simple folder:

    example-archive/
      index.md
      sources/
        S01-coordinator-note.md
        S02-participant-note.md
      briefs/
        repair-film-research.md

Use copies. Preserve originals separately. Give each source a title, author or owner, date, reference and access note. If a date is unknown, say so. Keep names and file references consistent when the brief changes.

A useful index row:

| ID | Title | Date | Contents | Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S01 | Coordinator note | 10 October, fictional example | Opening times and volunteer offer | Demonstration text only |

Do not include passwords, access tokens, contracts, participant health details or employer documents simply because they are available. Decide what belongs in this archive before connecting any tool to it.

## Retrieval first; interpretation second

Begin with ordinary file search. Search for the exact name, phrase or source ID; open the result and read its context. Record the paragraph or timecode that answers the question.

If you use an assistant, provide the selected files or excerpts deliberately. Ask it to cite source IDs and locators, distinguish a quotation from an inference, and say when it cannot find an answer. A reference can still be wrong: check the original.

Suggested request:

“Using only S01 and S02 below, tell me what changed at the repair club. Cite the exact sentence supporting each statement. Separate individual experience from claims about the whole club. If the notes do not establish something, say so.”

## A tiny demonstration

These are fictional notes, not records of a real club.

S01, sentence 1: “We now open on Saturday as well as Wednesday.”
S01, sentence 2: “Three volunteers have offered to run the extra session.”
S02, sentence 1: “I came because my lamp broke.”
S02, sentence 2: “I stayed because somebody showed me how to test the cable myself.”

A supported response:

“The coordinator reports an added Saturday session [S01, sentence 1] and three volunteers offering to run it [S01, sentence 2]. One participant describes learning a cable test [S02, sentence 2]. The notes do not establish attendance, waste savings or whether the extra session is sustainable.”

The human decision: whether that individual learning experience gives a film a useful story. Retrieval gives you the material to judge; it does not make that choice.

## If you later connect an archive tool

A connection is an access arrangement. Before enabling it, write down:

- The exact folder and file types it can read.
- Whether it copies files, extracts text or builds an index, and where that data lives.
- Who can query it and whether queries or results are logged.
- Whether an outside provider receives excerpts.
- How permissions, changed files and deletion are handled.
- How you can disconnect it and remove stored copies or indexes.

Prefer a selected folder to broad drive access. Keep read access separate from permission to edit, delete or share. Test with harmless demonstration files before real production material. Do not connect a tool that cannot explain its access or removal process.

MCP is one way software can expose selected tools and data to an assistant. This guide is not an MCP server and includes no executable connector. It does not connect to JBN's or anyone else's private archive.

## Test the archive before trusting it

Try three questions with answers you already know:

1. A direct lookup with a precise source location.
2. A question requiring two documents to be read together.
3. A question the archive cannot answer.

Check that the response cites the right material, preserves disagreement and admits the missing answer. A fluent wrong response is a failed test. Repeat after changing the archive structure or connecting a different service; do not infer reliability from one good example.

## Keep it usable

Assign an owner for the index. Review duplicates and access when a project closes. Store the decision about what was kept and why. When removing a source, check derived briefs and indexes too: deletion of the original does not automatically remove every extract.

The free route is folders, a Markdown index and your computer's search. An assistant or managed archive is optional and may bring subscription charges and additional data handling. Check the service’s current terms before adding project material.

## Reuse

Original JBN resource. Free to download.
Check permissions for your own archive material.